Lock
by Shiro Ryuu
Summary: AlfeegiRuwalk. Rath and Thatz are very, very bored. This cannot possibly end well... Unless you like the idea of Alfeegi and Ruwalk being locked a room for a couple days, anyway. [smirk]
1. Bored

**Disclaimer: **Heck, even the plot is hardly mine! Hmm... (scarfs two dozen cookies for comfort)

**AN:** (tears of joy) Oh my gosh, I'm cured! I am officially off my angsty-Angel-Sanctuary-fics funk! At least for a few days, anyhow. (grin) Wow, I'd forgotten that I could actually write funny things... Attention! This whole story is dedicated to the glamorous BulmaWannabe :) A whole lot of this came from her, especially the beginning... And I would never have written it at all if she hadn't been talking about a semi-similar DBZ fic she'd been reading... So, yup, this is her story. Enjoy, all!

* * *

**Chapter One: **Bored

* * *

"I'm bored."

"I'm boreder."

"No, I am."

"No, I am."

"Ug, this is boring..."

"You're right."

"...You know 'boreder' isn't even a word, right?"

"Yeah."

Rath, lying on his back in the grass, twisted his head a little to look at Thatz. He decided that looking sideways from below at Thatz hanging upside down from a tree branch blowing bubble gum was having decidedly unpleasant effects on his stomach, and looked away. "We've _really_ got to find something to do."

_Pop_. "Crap, I think there's gum in my hair. ...Yeah, we do."

Suddenly, Rath sat up, struck by inspiration. "I know!" Thatz fell on his head at this, but he paid it no attention. "Let's go torture Alfeegi!"

The thief sweatdropped. "Isn't that kinda, I don't know, _dangerous_?"

A decidedly evil smirk graced Rath's features. "Well, that depends..."

* * *

In the center of the Dragon Tribe's kingdom there was a capital, and in the center of that capital there was a castle, and as such it was very large. It was very large even for a castle, really. It was composed of hundreds of rooms and closets and grand halls and secret passages, so that there were only perhaps a handful of people who knew their way around the majority of all of it.

Perhaps this was the reason why the two Officers had been foolish enough to allow themselves to be lulled into such an utterly _false _sense of security.

It was the voices that first alerted Rath and Thatz to their prey. They exchanged startled glances, seeing from each other's expression that they both knew there shouldn't logically be anyone else in this part of the castle. It was mostly just empty rooms and storage space for unwanted furniture and... _oh_...

They crept to the corner as swiftly as stealth would allow and peered around it and _there it was_. A miracle - not to mention a mischief-maker's dream come true. They smirked fiendishly at each other, then set about sneaking close enough to hear what was going on.

This part of the castle was mostly just empty rooms and storage space for unwanted furniture _except for _the Room. The two partners in crime had once spent an entire afternoon trying to get in to it, to no avail. The lock made Thatz violently ill when he tried to pick it, and blades and heavy projectiles alike rebounded dangerously when applied to the surface of the door - it was magiced shut quite solidly, in other words. Earth had refused to break through the surrounding walls, ranting about not wanting to get in trouble with whoever'd cast the spell. There didn't seem to be any outside windows. They had tried quite hard, obviously, but in the end dinnertime had rolled around and they'd forgotten all about it. Until now, that was...

Because now, the door was wide open. Because now, a warm and inviting light spilled out into the hallway, seeming to beckon them closer. Either that or it was the desire to hear what Alfeegi and Ruwalk were talking about in there that did it; whichever it was, they edged forward.

"Four pounds of powdered citrine quartz..."

"Mm-hmm."

"Five bundles of dried _argenious _herb..."

"Yeah."

Inside the room, Alfeegi cast Ruwalk a shrewd look. "...And two blueberry muffins."

"Check."

Even Rath and Thatz had to grimace at the incoherent shriek of rage that followed. "_Ruwalk!_" Alfeegi bellowed, with surprising force for such an effeminate-looking man. "Would it _kill _you to pay attention for _two minutes?-!"_

Ruwalk poked his head over the edge of the desk he'd jumped behind, only to jerk back again when Alfeegi brandished a no-doubt rare and ancient spell-book at him. "I'm sorry!" he said, somewhat muffled. Alfeegi growled, but Ruwalk decided that some things needed to be said. "It's just... ugh... We've been doing this for over an hour, you know, and we haven't found anything missing yet. And I'm kind of hungry..."

Alfeegi heaved an exasperated sigh, but he did put the book down. "I'm hungry too," he admitted. "I guess it is about dinnertime... But I really wanted to get this done today. Some of the things in here are dangerous, you know."

"But we don't even know for sure that whoever it was actually _succeeded _in getting in," Ruwalk said, standing up just a little warily. "Plus, that was a week ago; you'd think that if they were going to do something, then they would've done it by now."

Rath caught on first, and blanched. "Oh, _no..._" he moaned, from behind hands that had flown to his mouth in horror. Thatz looked at him like he'd grown an extra arm, so Rath dragged him by his ear back around the corner.

"You idiot - don't you get it?" he hissed. "They're talking about _us_! They know somebody tampered with the spell..."

"But we didn't take anything," Thatz said.

"No, but that's just the point! Alfeegi's already gonna be mad when he finds out he did all this work for nothing, and if he finds out it was us - oh, man..."

"Wait, so does that mean it actually would've been better if we'd stolen something?" Thatz asked thoughtfully. Rath growled, and he laughed nervously. "Eh, never mind. But it's okay, right? After all, how would he find out it was us?"

Rath rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Thatz! Remember who we are? The biggest troublemakers in the whole castle! He's bound to figure it out eventually! He probably already suspects us, and all he'd have to do to get our dragons to talk is offer them some food or something."

Thatz shuddered. "Oh my gods, you're right... What are we going to do?"

Rath thought for a few moments, looking glum, but then a huge smirk suddenly plastered itself over his face. Thatz's eyes widened. "Well, obviously we've got to make it up to him. We'll do him a favor. Have you heard what all the servants say about Alfeegi and Ruwalk...?"

* * *

"Six bags of carp bones…"

"Now honestly, what could anyone ever do with that many carp bones? What are you even supposed to do with carp bones in the first place?"

Alfeegi graced him with a withering glare. "Six bags of carp bones?"

Ruwalk sighed. "Yes…" He rubbed his stomach, and grimaced. "But, Alfeegi-"

"Shh!" Ruwalk arched an eyebrow at him. "No, I mean – did you hear that?"

Ruwalk rolled his eyes. "See, _that's_ why we need to eat. You're hearing things-"

"No, it came from…"

They stared. Ruwalk merely frowned at the suddenly shut door, but Alfeegi overturned his chair in his haste to get to it. He rattled the doorknob frantically a few times, and moaned.

"We're not..." Ruwalk hazarded. "I mean, we can't be..."

"I left it in the keyhole... I can't believe it..." Alfeegi whispered, confirming the Yellow Officer's suspicions. Ruwalk thumped his head down on the desk.

"Rath! _Thatz!_" Alfeegi shrieked. "I _know _it's you!"

Outside in the hall, the pair traded awed glances. "He's good," Thatz whispered.

"GIVE THE KEY BACK _THIS_ _SECOND_!"

Thatz gulped nervously. "Um, I think _you_ better hang on to it, Rath," he said generously.

Rath stared at the key like it was a grenade with the pin pulled. "Er, no, you can keep it..."

"No, really, go ahead."

"Oh, no, I insist."

"I could never."

Rath massaged his temples wearily. "Okay, so he _knows _it's us," he whispered, as Alfeegi continued to scream in the background. "And he's gonna tell everyone once they find him, and they're going to make us give it back, and let him out..." He shuddered. "We've gotta get rid of it!"

Thatz sighed. "Damn... I _told _you we should've just gone to the kitchens..." Suddenly he beamed. "Oh, I've got it!"

Rath stared.

Rath stared some more.

"You are _so _stupid," he muttered, sounding impressed.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Alfeegi had sunk to his knees, one hand still weakly grasping the doorknob, with a dark aura of doom floating over him. Ruwalk knelt down next to him and rubbed his back awkwardly.

"It'll be okay... Someone is bound to find us..."

Alfeegi drew a shuddery breath. "I have... fourteen documents on my desk for Lord Lykouleon to sign. _Fourteen. _Not to mention several reports I have to make sure he reads... and Kai-stern's travel budget is all messed up, heh, _again_... And did you even know that the head chef quit this morning? If I can't find a replacement, there won't be anything to eat... the West Wing maids want pay raises, because that's where the Knights' bedrooms are... And-"

At which point Ruwalk clapped a hand over his mouth with a shudder. "And aren't you glad to have an excuse to not worry about all that for a little while?" he asked, smiling forcefully. "There's really nothing we can do about this right now - think of it as the most guilt-free vacation ever!"

Alfeegi glared at him as if that were the most stupid and inconsiderate thing he'd ever heard, and primly removed his hand. "When we get out of here, it'll probably be because the castle crumbled around our ears," he deadpanned. "How about this - once we get out, _you_ can help me _fix_ everything, and see if you can tell me not to worry then." He rested his head in his hands, a perfect picture of despair. "And what're we going to _eat_?"

Ruwalk gestured vaguely around the small storeroom. "Oh, there's probably something we can eat in here somewhere... maybe some... mushrooms...?"

"Or carp bones?" Alfeegi suggested dryly.

He grinned awkwardly. "Well, there're a lot of books in here, too - maybe one of them has spells for making food?"

Alfeegi stood with a resigned sigh. "You're right... We'll have to look through them. Keep an eye out for anything that might help us get out of here, too. Maybe someone will find us and hunt those brats down before we need it..."

Ruwalk sighed inwardly - trust Alfeegi to find the most _boring _thing possible for them to do - but he obediently padded over to a shelf and took down the first promising-looking tome. Alfeegi didn't notice how his fingers shook ever so slightly...

And so the wait began.

* * *

**AN: **(cackle) Ruwalk-glomping-Alfeegi plushies for everyone who can guess what Thatz did with the key! Not that it's _that _hard... And I don't think you even deserve a plushie for figuring out what's wrong with Ruwalk ;) But what am I saying, I won't be stingy - complimentary plushies of your choice to everyone who reviews! (grin)


	2. Games

**Disclaimer: **Quack! But I've never even _been _to Belize. (read: even the _chapter title _isn't mine!)

**AN: **(grin) What do people do when they're bored? Play games, of course! Until they loose _all _semblance of sanity, of course. Useless filler chapter, I'm afraid - and you waited so long, gomen! - but it should get more plot-ish after this, and hopefully you'll at least be mildly entertained until then.

**BulmaWannabe: **(bow) There, I posted, happy? I actually meant to post it a little sooner, but I... forgot...? Heh. I am _not _a plushie thief, everybody does it. The chapter title, on the other hand... Incidentally, everybody should go read BulmaWannabe's insanely wonderful RunexRath one-shot called 'Games'! (nervous grin) And one red-Ruwalk-staring-at-a-fresh-out-of-the-shower-towel-clad-Alfeegi plushie for you, _along with _a Ruwalk-glomping-Alfeegi plushie; I'm pretty sure _you _know what he did with the key :)

**RoninsOath: **Well, I figured that if the dragons' personalities are anything like their masters', Earth would probably be even more likely to snitch on someone for food ;) How about I give you Kharl, Rath, _and _Garfakcy plushie? _Plus _a Ruwalk-glomping-Alfeegi plushie, because, of course, he ate it. Ain't it great?

**xxDKGurlxx: **XD 'THE super-flying-squirrel-queen', I love that... (beam) I hope there's enough Rath in this chapter for ya. One lovely Rath plushie for you, _and _a Ruwalk-glomping-Alfeegi plushie, of course, you people are so smart.

**Thank you all for your super-awesome reviews! **Not a single one-liner; obviously my story attracts only the finest intellectuals :D

* * *

**Chapter Two: **Games

* * *

Dinner sat uneasily in Thatz's stomach that evening. Literally. Rath was too busy glancing nervously around at all the other castle members who were glancing nervously around to be of much comfort, however.

"They're wondering where those two are," he whispered. "They'll start looking after dinner... and someone is bound to know where they went..." Thatz burped his sympathies, and Rath sighed irritably. "Seriously, are we gonna have to take you to the infirmary?"

Thatz scoffed. "Aw, come on, you know I can eat anything!" It appeared to be a matter of pride.

Rath shook his head. "Just don't throw it up, whatever you do. Hopefully he will have cooled down by the time..." He gestured vaguely; Thatz paled.

"You don't mean...?"

Rath rolled his eyes. "Honestly, what did you _think_ was gonna happen?"

Thatz moaned miserably, and vowed to never eat non-food objects again.

* * *

(One hour)

"_What _are you doing?"

Ruwalk froze. After a moment, he thrust his hand towards Alfeegi; in it he held an origami crane. "For you." He grinned nervously.

Alfeegi took it after a moment, and examined it with an arched eyebrow. "...You tore a page out of a book," he said dully. "And there seem to be stick figures drawn all over it, too."

Ruwalk sighed, and sunk lower in his chair. "I was feeling artistic?" he suggested meekly.

The teal-haired man carefully set the crane down on the desk. "You know, in situations like this, people are sometimes forced to resort to _cannibalism_." He smiled cheerfully. Ruwalk suddenly seemed to be very interested indeed in his book.

* * *

"You know what? This sucks."

Thatz glanced up at Rath, who was pacing back and forth at the other end of the room. "What does? The barricade? It'll hold."

Rath glowered at said barricade as if it were the source of all his problems. At the moment they were holed up in Thatz's room with the bed and dresser both shoved in front of the door, in, as it were, anticipation. "No! I mean, we did that so we wouldn't be bored anymore, and now look at us!" He threw up his arms in disgust. "We're playing _Scrabble_!"

"There's nothing wrong with Scrabble," Thatz said mildly.

Rath boggled at him. "I mean, why do you even have a Scrabble set? I didn't even know you were literate!"

Thatz glowered. "Oh, gee, very nice, thanks. Take your turn."

"What did you do?"

"Added 'xylo' to your 'phone'..."

Rath buried his face in his hands.

* * *

(Two hours)

At this point, an ominous silence had taken hold of the storeroom, to be broken only by the occasional _swish _of Alfeegi turning a page. Ruwalk had _not _been cannibalized (yet), but nor could he be persuaded to look through any more books with any amount of cajoling or threatening. At present he was leaning dangerously back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk, and one of the dread books rested on his face.

Alfeegi had long since been convinced that he was sleeping, and was busy wondering if he'd ever actually had to deal with any formal schooling in his life, so he was quite surprised when the aforementioned book suddenly seemed to speak. "When we get out... we should have a party."

Alfeegi quirked an eyebrow at the talking book. "We might not get out for days, though, _at this rate_," he hinted blandly.

"...and we could have a feast..."

The eyebrow went up higher, and Alfeegi sighed. "Except we can't, if no one else has found a new head chef."

"...and decorations..."

"...Which might or might not get cleaned up, depending on whether or not the maids have gone on strike yet."

"...and booze..."

Alfeegi scowled. "Have you actually ever _seen _Rath drunk?"

The part of Ruwalk's face that could be seen was grinning widely. "Yeah, isn't it fun?"

Alfeegi stared at him for a moment, and then simply turned back to his book. A small grin of his own graced his features as he secretly vowed that, if the next spell wasn't for making food, he was going to take this lovely book and _brain _that bastard with it and eat _him_. He held his breath as he turned the page... and let it all out in a whoosh.

"Hey, I found it," he said, sounding bitterly disappointed.

* * *

(Three hours)

Ruwalk smirked. "Full house!"

Alfeegi frowned incredulously at the table. "The Sun... the World... the Wheel... the Star, and the Moon? That's not full house!"

Ruwalk assumed a lofty expression. "Yes it is. The Sun and the Star make the pair, and the World, the Wheel and the Moon are three of a kind."

"They are _not_. You make a full house with the Minor Arcana."

"The Minor whatsits?"

Alfeegi threw up his hands in disgust. "Forget it! I _told _you that you can't play poker with tarot cards!"

Ruwalk rolled his eyes. "Well, we're in a _magical supplies storeroom_. I don't think there are going to be any regular cards in here; what are we supposed to do?"

Alfeegi glared icily. "Not play poker? Find a spell to get us out of here, maybe?"

Ruwalk shook his head. "Oh, _please_. You're just trying to get out of it because I won! Pay up!"

Alfeegi narrowed his eyes. "You did _not _win."

"...stingy... sore loser... muttergrumble..."

"_Oh_, fine," he snapped, and tossed a bag of carp bones at Ruwalk's head.

* * *

"I spy, with my little eye... something black."

Rath exhaled deeply. "My _hair._"

Thatz's eyes widened. "How did you _do _that?"

"You used my hair three times already!"

Thatz grinned sheepishly. "Oh... sorry."

Rath rolled on to his back on Thatz's bed, and looked around superfluously. "I spy... something _green_."

* * *

(Four hours)

Ruwalk frowned thoughtfully at his piece of paper. Well, _pieces_, technically - _many_ pieces. Hundreds, possibly. For the past fifteen minutes or so, he'd been meticulously ripping a piece of paper in half, and then ripping one of the pieces in half, and then ripping one of _those _pieces in half, and so on. His current piece had finally reached the point where it was officially too small to tear anymore, and he was considering starting over again with the second original half...

"They're really not going to find us tonight, are they?" he asked miserably.

After a few moments of marked unresponsiveness, he glanced up from his vital task... and gawked. It just wasn't possible, couldn't be. It was probably one of the first signs of the coming Apocalypse or something. Alfeegi, for all appearances, was _sleeping_.

Ruwalk simply stared at him from across the room for a moment or two, taking in his slightly parted lips and softened expression, and the precise way his hair fell across his face... Yup, that definitely looked like sleep. Shaking his head in wonder, he ambled over to where Alfeegi lay on the floor, half propped up by a shelf, and removed the book from his unresisting fingers. As an afterthought, he draped his jacket over the other man, and then stepped back with an odd little half-smile. He'd briefly considered moving him into a more comfortable-looking position, but, well... All things considered, it would probably be better if he just went to sleep. Not that sleep would come easy tonight, but oh well.

* * *

**AN: **(beam) Oh, yeah, the tarot cards were _totally _a cheap shot. Hey, at least I didn't use the Lovers card! _Cheeeeese_. Review to help save the whales!


	3. Truth

**Disclaimer: **I mean, come on - my current net worth is seventy-one cents; do you even have to _ask_?

**AN: **All credit for this chapter goes to BulmaWannabe; I was totally stuck and probably on the verge of writing something totally lame and cliché, and she saved me (again!) So here it is; one more chapter to go! (Already? Heh...)

**xxDKGurlxx: **Yay, a returning reviewer! (glomp) I'm glad you found the update to be decently quick; hope this one was okay too. Don't worry, Ruwalk will take advantage of Alfeegi soon enough :)

**yamatoforever: **And _you_ reviewed both chapters! (glomps you too) Yes, Ruwalk is a doll. Glad you're liken' it; hope this was a quick enough update!

**Saabelswife:** (grin) Almost fainted, huh? I feel sufficiently flattered now; yes indeedy. Glad Saabel liked it too XD

(pokes BulmaWannabe) Yes, I _know _you were sick, and your boo is home... but... (cackle) (stalkstalkstalk)

* * *

**Chapter Three:** Truth

* * *

"Hmm... Ruwalk-kun?"

Ruwalk opened his eyes, and smiled lazily. "Hai, Alfeegi-kun?"

There was a sensation like opening his eyes _again_...

Alfeegi frowned at him. "Don't call me 'Alfeegi-kun'," he said prudishly. "And get your arm off me, please."

Ruwalk blinked dumbly at him, while the pieces of genuine reality fitted themselves back together in his brain. They'd been locked in the storeroom... they'd gone to sleep on the floor... and currently, his arm was draped possessively across Alfeegi's chest. Upon this realization, he jumped away so fast that he hit his head on a shelf. "S-Sorry!"

Alfeegi just rolled his eyes at him, and left him on the floor in favor of claiming the room's one chair that Ruwalk had hogged most of the previous night. Ruwalk watched him with sleepy detachment as he murmured the spell he'd found last night to conjure up a cup of coffee, and began idly leafing through the nearest spell book.

The brunet officer sighed, stretched, and ran a hand through his currently tousled hair. "I don't know why you're in such a hurry to get out of here," he groused.

Alfeegi shot him a wryly humorous look through the steam from his coffee. "Oh, and I suppose you want to stay?"

He shrugged. "It's not so bad - it's relaxing," he said in an off-hand fashion. "The company's good, at least."

Alfeegi stared at him for a moment or two, but then just went back to his book with a bemused smile.

He didn't have long to read, however, because just as Ruwalk finally got the energy to haul himself to his feet, they were both scared out of their wits by a sudden pounding on the door. "Alfeegi! Ruwalk! Are you in there?"

* * *

Thatz moaned, and Rath looked away from his crossword long enough to give him a sympathetic glance, from where he lay on a sterile white bed next to, and identical to, Thatz's own.

"Is it really that bad?" he whispered.

"I'll be fine," Thatz grumbled, massaging his stomach gingerly.

"That's the spirit," he said cheerily, and returned to his puzzle. Thatz rolled his eyes at his friend's general lack of sympathy, but at least he wasn't wanting for a distraction from his pain, as just then the door to the infirmary was opened by none other than the Dragon Lord.

Thatz hurriedly gave a respectful bow of the head (the closest he could get to a proper bow given his current state), while Rath offered a cheery mock salute. Lykouleon frowned slightly at him, and the look remained in place as he took a seat next to Thatz's bed; Thatz gulped.

"Are you both aware that Officers Alfeegi and Ruwalk have been missing since yesterday?" Lykouleon inquired, pokerfaced.

The two exchanged wary glances. "...Yes?" Rath hazarded.

"And are you aware that they have recently been found... locked in a supplies room?" His voice had taken on a dangerously dry tone...

"No?" Thatz squeaked.

"Then I suppose you are also unaware that Alfeegi accuses _you _of locking them in there?" His expression was schooled to appear most severe, though Rath could've sworn he saw a slight upward turn to his lips.

The pair exchanged glances again - and then Thatz thrust a pointing finger towards Rath. "It was his idea!" he almost whined.

"W-Was not!"

"Was so!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, _he_ ate the key!"

Lykouleon paled slightly. "He _ate_...?" Thatz burped, and suddenly looked rather sheepish.

* * *

Alfeegi sighed quietly, feeling rather bored, and - ironically enough - a bit lonely.

The excitement of being found had soon passed. Alfeegi told them - bursting with righteous rage - how the two of them had wound up in such a predicament, and had been informed that Thatz had apparently checked into the infirmary late last night for stomach troubles. Whether or not they had been frightened off by Alfeegi's incoherent sputtering at that point, the fact remained that their discoverers had eventually realized that there was really nothing they could do without the key, and had left.

Ruwalk had pottered around the room for a bit afterwards, turning up a few odd articles of dubious magical potency and poking vainly at the door, and had then lain down on the floor and gone back to sleep. For all Alfeegi had heard from him in the last hour or two, he might as well've died.

The problem with being in an isolated little room in an isolated little corner of the castle, Alfeegi reflected, was the quiet. The only sounds to be heard were his own heartbeat and breathing, and occasionally the faint intake and exhalation of breath from Ruwalk as well. There wasn't even a clock. It was really quite disconcerting...

It had also occurred to Alfeegi - several times, in fact - that there really wasn't much point to looking through the spell books anymore. They'd found the key, after all... it was just a matter of, er, waiting. He lazily turned the pages of his latest volume of magical lore nevertheless, because unlike Ruwalk, he didn't feel normal unless he was doing something with a serious goal in mind. Visions of untouched paperwork danced behind his eyes; if he could get them out of here even a few hours sooner, it would surely be worth the extra effort...

He sent a disparaging glare Ruwalk's way. It ought to be illegal to look so damn _relaxed _all the time; he'd really like to know how he did it.

He returned his attentions to his book, and a phrase caught his eye. He read the spell... read it again... and stared for a few moments as if stunned. Come to think about it, there were a _lot _of things he'd like to know about Ruwalk.

* * *

Ruwalk awoke to the sound of someone calling his name. In his experience, this could mean one of two things - either he was in trouble, or someone wanted something from him. This time, thankfully, he was able to remember where he was straight away, so he opened his eyes warily, expecting the second option but not ruling out the first.

Alfeegi was smiling widely at him. "Ruwalk... How do you feel?"

He considered the question. "Pretty good," he admitted honestly. "Back hurts a little..." He looked Alfeegi up and down. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

Alfeegi hummed cheerfully to himself, perching on the edge of the desk and swinging his legs. "Well, you know... What's your favorite food?"

"Tamagoyaki." Ruwalk gaped at him. "_Why_?"

"Oh, well... I was really _quite _bored, I suppose..." he said vaguely, waving the question off. Suddenly, Alfeegi developed a disapproving frown. "Hey - did you ever read that report I left for you last week, the one about the maid who quit?"

"No." Ruwalk's eyes widened as he realized what he'd said, and tried to edge back further back into the shelf. "Er, I mean - I mean -" He paled. "W-What-?"

Alfeegi glowered mildly. "And what about that monthly travel record form I asked you to return to me the day before yesterday? Did you ever fill it out?"

"Well, I didn't travel any last month, so I figured you didn't -" Ruwalk clapped his hands over his mouth in shock, though he yelped out a highly accusatory 'Alfeegi' from behind them.

Alfeegi massaged his temples, though he did have the grace to look a little guilty at the same time. "I suppose I better not ask you anything else about those, huh...? It will only irritate me... Though, did you find-"

"What did you do to me?" Ruwalk interrupted desperately. "You - you _did_ something, didn't you? You cast some spell-"

Alfeegi looked affronted. "I can't believe you would accuse me of something like that... so soon... Just relax. You're normally so good at that; how do you do it, anyway?"

"I-It's just how I am, I guess... Stop it!"

Alfeegi scoffed. "Oh, don't be a baby. Most people would be asking you - oh, say, is it true that you and Cernozura were together at one point?" He thought for a moment, and grimaced. "Oh - wait - you don't have to -"

Ruwalk, however, just shrugged. "Oh, _that_. I don't mind telling you, it was a long time ago... Back before Rune came to the castle, even..."

Alfeegi arched an eyebrow. "Oh... really? Why did you two split up, then?"

Ruwalk looked at the ceiling nervously. "Uh... I found someone else... Look, don't you dare-"

"Who?"

Ruwalk glared at him, going red, as he squirmed and bit his lip. "Ack - you - don't you-" He abruptly sighed, relaxing in relief.

Alfeegi frowned. "What? Did it wear off already?"

"No," Ruwalk answered, then groaned and buried his face in his hands rather melodramatically. Alfeegi cocked his head to the side in innocent confusion.

"What - but, you-"

At Alfeegi's sudden silence, Ruwalk grimaced visibly. Alfeegi didn't move a muscle, as all the color drained out of his face and then returned three times over...

* * *

"Thatz, just open up already," Rath said sternly, pounding on the bathroom door. "The nurse wants to see you. And I brought you a book!"

From the other side of the door, there came a low moan. "Rath, just go away... _Far _away. Do you have any idea how..." His voice trailed off into another miserable, pained groan. Rath continued obliviously.

"So, I guess you're gonna be in there for a while? I could go get you some food-"

"I'll never eat again!" The nurse blushed in sympathy; Rath was momentarily stunned into silence.

* * *

**AN: **Random obsession of the moment: Yun Kouga's manga _Loveless_. I've only read the first book (is the second one even out yet?) and I haven't seen the anime or anything, but I'm already totally in love :) You should check it out - after you review, of course. (grin)


	4. Out

**Disclaimer: **(glomps Kharl) Aw, can't I at least keep this one:P Stingy lawyers...

**AN: **Yes, despite the fact that I don't actually have anything about him posted (I think -.-;;), Kharl is my favorite character... I know, I'm weird, I prefer to think of it as 'special'... hmm... LAST CHATER! Meh, short fic, gomen nasai! Well, it _is _all happening in the time it takes a key to, heh, pass through someone's, heh, system... (bow, bow) Many thank-yous to all who have to reviewed, and especially to Bulma Wannabe, it would never have happened without you! (bow, bow, bow)

**CrescentKnight7: **(return glomp) Aw, you rock. I love it when people tell me that I'm keeping the characters IC, it's one of the best things to hear :)

**Azure-kun: **Ra, it's true... In this entire fic... this chapter is the first time I mentioned Rune. (sweatdrop) Oops? Seems a bit odd, I knew something was missing... I never mentioned Tetheus before, either, but no one ever mentions Tetheus. T.T Poor Tetheus, I should write something Tetheus-centric... XD Though I do have a one-shot called _Another Cinderella Story _that's Rune-centric, if you're interested. (shameless, _shameless _plug)

**xxDKGurlxx: **Yes, the Alfeegi-Ruwalk glompfest begins now, dun dun _dun_... And as for the question of who will touch the key... XD XD Yes, this really is a pretty gross plot, isn't it? (sweatdrop) I prefer to think of it as 'special' XD I'm sad that this story is so short, too, I had a blast writing it. Maybe I'll write something like it sometime soon, if I can ever finish the mountain of stories I'm already working on -.-;;

**Kit: **(gleam) Must... get... anime...:) I just wish I'd started reading the series sooner, silly me and my procrastinating ways...

* * *

**Chapter Four: **Out

* * *

The silence in the remote magical supplies room seemed to stretch for an eternity in every direction. Finally, Ruwalk risked a peek at his companion. "At least tell me off," he said grimly.

Alfeegi barked out a few harsh syllables to remove the truth spell - it had obviously gone much too far all ready - and slapped the spell book back onto the table with trembling hands. "I... can't believe you never _told_ me! All this time... you could have..."

Ruwalk frowned. "Hey - I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you know I never took advantage of you, if that's what you mean-"

"You should have told me!" Alfeegi snapped, and turned away from him. His thin shoulders, Ruwalk noted, were shaking.

After a few moments, the brunet man sighed. This wasn't exactly the reaction he'd been expecting; he supposed it was better. "Alfeegi... I really _am _sorry. I never wanted to keep a secret from you, but... ugh, you know..." 'I didn't want to risk losing you altogether...'

"Did you really think I was that shallow?-!" Alfeegi shouted, but the effort seemed to sap all of his remaining strength, and he fell silent again.

"I never thought that," Ruwalk insisted hurriedly. "I - I suppose it was irrational - I just didn't want to take any risks..." He trailed off with a grimace; did that mean he hadn't thought what he'd wanted was worth the risk? Surely that wasn't it, he'd just been too scared... with good reason, apparently...

From behind, Ruwalk saw Alfeegi lower his head to his hands. "I... I want _out _of here..." he whispered through clenched teeth, shaking harder, and Ruwalk wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms about him but wasn't sure if he could quite get up the courage...

* * *

"Aw, _man_... Thatz?"

"Nnn... _away_, Rath!"

"Hey, come on. Do like the nurse said; just _relax_."

"Gah... _kill_..."

"So anyway, what's a twelve-letter word for... congestion?"

* * *

Alfeegi was crying, and he was humiliated by that, and at the same time he didn't care. Over and over again in his mind he wondered _why_, and that thought left very little room for anything else.

The thing was, he'd been infatuated with Ruwalk since he'd first met him. Born into an upper-class merchant family, Alfeegi had been given a fine education and upbringing, and had been hand-picked by Lykouleon's father to serve the young Dragon Prince. Ruwalk, on the other hand, was just some street kid Lykouleon had befriended, and when he'd heard that such a person had been given a rank equal to his, Alfeegi had resented him on the spot - but it hadn't lasted long. It hadn't exactly been love at first sight - Alfeegi liked to think that he was rather too coolheaded for that sort of thing - perhaps it had started when he'd first opened his mouth...?

When he'd first realized his feelings, he'd been horrified, of course. He'd never spent too much time thinking about 'love' before - naturally he'd wanted it, in the vague sort of way that everyone did, but no one had ever seriously caught his fancy - and he was surely much too busy to start thinking about it now. A romance with a man was certain to be even more disruptive, even if by some miracle his feelings were actually returned. Worst of all, he found that he'd quickly come to depend on their playful arguments and their long conversations over lunch, and he couldn't - wouldn't - begin to imagine this man looking at him in disgust if his feelings _weren't _returned...

In the end, he'd done the only thing that had seemed possible, and buried himself more deeply than ever in his work, until he could talk to the man calmly, until he could look at him without blushing... Needless to say, it had nearly killed him, and had left him feeling somehow subhuman.

He suddenly froze, momentarily shocked right out of his train of thought, as someone pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Alfeegi," Ruwalk murmured near his ear, sounding completely genuine. "I never wanted you to cry. Why are you crying?"

This brought the tears back all over again. Alfeegi clung to the arms around his chest for dear life. "G-Gods damn it, Ruwalk! If you'd just _told _me..."

Ruwalk shook his head. "What? I don't understand-"

Alfeegi scoffed. "Did I _ever _spend so much time with anyone else?"

He felt Ruwalk tense as the words sank in; after a moment, he chuckled. "So what you're saying is, you were scared too?"

Alfeegi moaned his frustrations, rubbing his eyes brutally with his knuckles, and then he couldn't help it any more, and turned in Ruwalk's arms to face him. They kissed for a few long moments, passionately and deeply, sloppily with haste, until they were forced apart by vertigo. Alfeegi observed the love welling up in Ruwalk's eyes for a few seconds, and then sighed and gently disentangled himself.

At the Yellow Officer's open-mouthed shock, Alfeegi shrugged. "I'm sorry... I... don't know... So you love me, and I _used _to love you." He smiled sadly. "What makes you think I still do?"

Ruwalk nodded solemnly. "Well, _that_, for one thing." Alfeegi glared, poking his chest rather hard.

"I'm _serious_. I bottled those feeling up for such a long time... I think I might have killed them." Ruwalk could easily see how desperate he was to be convinced otherwise; he rolled his eyes.

"I really don't think you can kill feeling like that anywhere near that easily... Even if a person went away for a long time - even if they died..." He grinned. "Give it a week. Actually, in a place like this, a few hours-"

Alfeegi continued to scowl bitterly. "You don't understand! Even if we could make it work somehow, we don't have time for this! It'd be even worse because we'd have to hide it-"

Ruwalk glowered too, but more mildly. "Does it have to come back to this again? What's the point of working so hard if you never get to enjoy yourself? Anyway, everybody knows that Kai-stern's seeing someone down in the village, and he still manages to do his job-"

Alfeegi blinked. "Kai-stern is... seeing someone? _Really_?" Ruwalk looked at him quizzically. "Anyway, he doesn't do his job very well, you know! He's a slacker - he's horrible at keeping track of his finances-"

Ruwalk held up his hands to stem the verbal onslaught. "To you, _everybody's_ a slacker. The point is, he'd no worse than he was a few months ago, right?" Alfeegi looked down abruptly; Ruwalk smiled. "You know, with all these protests, I think you're _still_ scared..."

"I'm just trying to be practical," Alfeegi insisted. "I'm not scared - I don't know where you get the idea that-" He broke off abruptly when Ruwalk reached up to touch his face. There was that loving look again, that one that made it so hard to meet his eyes...

"Good - I'm glad you're not scared. As long as you're not scared, everything will work out all right, don't you think?" And before Alfeegi had time to protest the faulty logic of the statement - or even to ponder why _he _could never think of the most perfectly romantic thing to say in any given situation - Ruwalk kissed him. He started out slow, giving Alfeegi ample time to pull away, which was probably why Alfeegi sighed in defeat against his mouth and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling their bodies flush together.

Later on, he would recall being amazed that another person could feel so warm, that two bodies could fit together so comfortably. He'd always used to think that kisses would be more awkward somehow, that the noses would get in the way, but it was actually the most equally thrilling and _relaxing_ thing he'd ever felt. _Huh... who knew..._

* * *

Rath paced back and forth in front of the bathroom door, half-listening as one nurse tried to calm a second, more hysterical one. "It's too quite - it's been so long - he's _dead_! - we should've broken the door down -"

"Thatz!" Rath hollered suddenly. "You're gonna miss dinner if you don't get out of there already!"

There was another long stretch of silence... then, so quite that they almost missed it, a hopeful whimper: "Dinner...?"

The two nurses hugged joyously. "He's cured!" Rath beamed proudly. The expression dropped instantly from his face, however, when Thatz opened the door. The Earth Knight leaned heavily against the door frame, and he wordlessly held out... the key...

Rath sweatdropped, edging way. "I... heh... think you'd better hold on to that..."

Thatz shook his head ardently. "No _way_. I'm not opening that door; Alfeegi's gonna kill me."

"_Us_," Rath reminded him. "I'm planning on being lost at sea by the time someone opens that door, personally."

At the same time, they turned to look expectantly at the nurses, who returned looks of foreboding distain. Thatz threw up his hands in disgust. "_Fine_! But I'm not going without at least a few Dragon Fighters."

* * *

Thus it came to be that Thatz, Rath, Rune, two Dragon Officers, two nurses, four Dragon Fighters, and Lord Lykouleon all wound up witnessing the rather peculiar event of Alfeegi and Ruwalk being rescued from the storage room.

When Rune took it upon himself to announce jubilantly that they'd come to let them out, the group was greeted by some oddly muffled squeaks and some scrambling noises that cumulated in a crash. After nearly a minute of silence, Ruwalk called out: "Er, okay."

That seemed to be about it. The members of the small mob exchanged confused glances as Thatz turned the key. The situation only became stranger when the pair of Officers stepped out of the room. They looked somehow mildly disheveled, and Alfeegi in particular refused to meet anyone's eyes. A knowing grin graced Lykouleon's features, but he hurriedly composed himself before asking, "So... did you ever find out if anything had gone missing?"

_That _got Alfeegi's attention; he gaped. "I... I... I _forgot_..." He looked so close to tears that Lykouleon couldn't help it; he grasped the teal-haired man's shoulder kindly.

"Don't worry about it. In fact, why don't you two take the rest of the day off? Ah, ah - I insist. I'm sure it was a very... harrowing experience."

Meanwhile, Thatz and Rath were discreetly edging away down the hall. The movement did not escape Alfeegi's notice; he seized gratefully on the opportunity for a distraction. "Hey, you two!"

The pair froze as Alfeegi stormed over to them. Thatz whimpered like a puppy; just at Alfeegi reached them, he gave a deep bow. "We're really, really sorry! Really!"

Alfeegi stared at him, apparently oblivious to Rath muttering 'We...?' under his breath. After a few seconds, he reached out and patted Thatz absentmindedly on the head. "Well, all right then." Thatz gawked at him; one of the Dragon Fighters swooned.

All in all, it was truly a remarkable occasion. Incidentally, it took Alfeegi and Ruwalk a _very_ long time to finish checking the storage room's catalog... though they _did_ finish eventually, and Alfeegi _did_ put two and two together, and _did _proceed to make Rath and Thatz's lives completely miserable for a while, but they'd kind of been expecting it anyway.

_**Owari**_

**AN: **(beam) Aw, fluff! Sorry there was no lemon or anything, but I thought it would feel a bit out of place since this is primarily a humor fic, and anyway the couple is really more cute than erotic here, nervous grin. Plus, I was feeling kind of lazy... too many Angel Sanctuary lemons that still need to be written... Feh, just go read 'The Impression That I Get' if you want an AlfeegiRuwalk lemon (coughshamelessplugcough). But review first, 'negai! (beam) Hope everybody liked the ending, I truly do - er, Yoda? O.o 's obviously past my bed time...


End file.
